This account of the kidnapping of John Paul Getty III and the subsequent clash between his mother, Gail, and ‘richest man in history’ Jean Paul Getty to pay the ransom is directed by Ridley Scott. It turns out Scott is still a very competent director when he has a fixed… Continue reading →

It is rare that you delay seeing a film, and that increases its value. Usually by the time you get to see it, you have heard enough about it that it essentially ends up filling in the gaps of your knowledge. But watching Coco last week, as the horror of… Continue reading →

Director Saul Dibb follows up his WW2 drama Suite Francaise with this WW1 account of life in the trenches, marking the centenary of the battle it depicts. British First World War accounts have been appropriated along with the poppy by the Tommy Robinsons of the world. Films tend to be… Continue reading →

With Ron Howard directing a Lawrence Kasdan script this is conventional, safe, entertaining Hollywood. It can be viewed as a fairly straightforward cowboy or heist movie, and that in essence tells us the appeal of Star Wars, and in particular the Star Wars universe to Disney. For decades the western… Continue reading →

Winchester has that “based on actual events” klaxon at the start. This usually means they will play fast and loose with facts, but while there is a good deal of artistic licence in this movie, it perhaps suffers from being too bound to the truth. It relates the account of… Continue reading →

The first Deadpool marked my conversion to comic book movies. If not quite a road to Damascus moment, it was more of a motorway to Blackpool epiphany, but the meta jokes, bawdy humour and ironic winks were enough to indicate there was more to the genre than tedious CGI fights…. Continue reading →

There is a good film to be made about privacy and permanent surveillance. This isn’t it. The opening sequence of what a society where everyone has Google Glasses embedded in their heads would be like, is well executed. Every person is immediately identified, adverts are brought to life, information is… Continue reading →

This coming of age drama from British director Andrew Haigh offers an insight into the world of low budget horse racing in America’s north west. It focuses on 15 year old Charley Thompson, living with his father, who scratches a living, moving around and indulging in his favourite past time… Continue reading →

Everything about this movie is HUGE, as if Simple Minds, U2 and Springsteen had combined at the height of their bombastic pomposity for a world tour lasting 17 years. The cast, the budget, scope, special effects and ambition: huge. Of course, the inherent problem with a movie of this size… Continue reading →

Not having read the original novel, and not being much of a gamer, I went into this without much of the baggage that many have. I figured this would mean I might enjoy it more, because I had no geek nirvana that it was betraying. And, sure, it’s an enjoyable… Continue reading →